Bloodlines Stage 3
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the third stage in Castlevania: Bloodlines. It takes place in Italy. __TOC__ Overview The stage starts outdoors at nighttime, with the sublime Pisa Cathedral decorating the background and setting the mood for what's to come. As soon as the level starts, a flock of spear-wielding Harpies will be already on the attack. Don't be fooled if after damaging them their heads are cut off and sent flying sprouting streams of blood, because even then they will continue attacking with their last ounce of strength. Soon enough, some Minotaurs will enter the battlefield. As usual, they will attempt to charge at the player like bulls, but if let to, they will actually tear out marble columns from the background and use them as weapons. The next two rooms take place on the outer walls of the Leaning Tower, with the second being a crossroads of sorts, and where each hero is forced to take their own exclusively designed path. John can only proceed through the lower exit, which takes him to a long corridor where he will have to make use of his whip to swing over bottomless chasms by latching it on the ceiling. Eric, on his part, will have to make use of his mega jumping ability to reach the upper exit. No matter which path was followed, both heroes will soon have to face the area's miniboss: the Snake Dragon. A gigantic variant of the common Skele-Dragon that breathes flames while it slithers back and forth. Afterward, our heroes will enter the principal and most iconic section of the stage, where they will actually be inside the Leaning Tower itself and must climb it to the top in a timed event where the camera scrolls automatically upward, all this while the unsteady tower oscillates back and forth from its very foundations. A myriad of Medusa's Heads will spawn endlessly on their way up in an attempt to knock them down and fall to their demise. Midway on the way up, a candle on the far right holds a 1up, and shortly after, another one holds a Mirror of Truth that will vanquish all enemies on the screen and give our heroes a much needed breathing room to allow them reach the top exit. The next two rooms are nothing out of the ordinary, just containing a few Mummies and Vampire Bats. Once outside, however, things change drastically and turn quite bizarre, as our heroes find themselves traveling over a long, spiraling staircase suspended in the sky that surrounds the tower. An army of Flying Skeletons will be constantly harassing them along the way. They should be disposed of as fast as possible or they may overwhelm the heroes with their numbers. Each time one is slain, it will drop an item toward the player's location, either a Red Jewel or a sub-weapon, so care should be taken if one wants to conserve their favored sub-weapon, lest another is picked up by accident. Our heroes finally reach to the very top of the Leaning Tower, where a horrifying creature immediately enters the scene to commence the area's end boss fight: the Gargoyle. This bat-like hellspawn makes slow swoops on either side of the screen whilst lashing with its long tail, or it may hover on one side of the screen while it shoots projectiles from the tip of its tail. After it has sustained enough damage, it will start bouncing on the reduced space that comprises the top of the tower in an attempt to crush our heroes and make them fall. Once defeated, the fiend will let out one last deafening shriek and get consumed by flames, ultimately falling all the way to the ground below. Enemy Data Category:Towers Category:Bloodlines Locations